Totally synthetic approaches to 9-amino camptothecin have been widely described (U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,456 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,512). Total synthesis of the product, however, is neither desirable nor suitable for large scale production because it involves too many process steps that make the synthesis too long and, especially, too expensive. A semisynthetic approach to 9-amino camptothecin is described, e.g. in JP-A-59-51288 and JP-A-59-51289, both published in 1984, starting from the known natural product camptothecin: Cancer Chemotherapy Reports, part I, vol. 54, No. 6, December 1970, 461-470; J. Med. Chem., 1980, 23, 554-560; Science, vol. 246, November 1989, 1046-1048. The natural 20(S)-camptothecin has the following formula (II) ##STR4##
The said semisynthetic approach involves the nitration of the naturally occurring camptothecin, followed by reduction of the 9-nitro derivative. That nitration, however, initially produces a 70/30 mixture of the undesired 12-nitro camptothecin derivative (70%) and of the desired 9-nitro camptothecin derivative (30%). The 9-nitro derivative is therefore formed only in a minor amount.
After the separation of the two nitration products, the 12-nitro derivative, which is itself biologically inactive (see, for instance, Wani C., Nicholas A. W., Wall M. E., J. Med. Chem., 1986, 29, 2358), must then be discharged, giving rise to waste treatment problems. The considerable drawback concerning the removal of the undesired 12-nitro derivative byproduct is particularly relevant for large scale production since large amounts of unuseful 12-nitro derivative are collected and need to be eliminated.
Moreover, following this semisynthetic approach, large quantities of natural camptothecin which is highly expensive, are needed to produce small quantities of the desired antitumor agent 9-amino camptothecin. The low overall productivity and yields of this approach make the production of substantial amounts of the desired compound difficult. There is therefore a need for a process permitting increased productivity and yields compared to the above outlined semisynthetic approach to 9-amino camptothecin.